Bradley backs Derry to deliver

Cruciate victim Eoin Bradley believes Derry can win the Ulster SFC title this weekend without two of their chief marksmen.

Eoin joined his older brother Paddy on the sidelines when he damaged ligaments in his left knee during a training match last Sunday.

The loss of two such stellar forwards is a hammer blow to Derry's chances of securing silverware this summer.

Eoin had been in superb form in the Championship, leading the scoring with 1-4 and 1-5 respectively in the wins over Fermanagh and Armagh.

Despite the personal disappointment, he remains confident that his team-mates will overcome Donegal in Sunday's showpiece final in Clones.

"I think they can win and I think they will win. (Our manager) John (Brennan) always seems to have a plan," he told BBC Northern Ireland.

"Somebody else will step in (for me), there's plenty of good footballers there. There's Caolan O'Boyle, Emmett McGuckin, Lee Moore, Marty Donaghy.

"There's plenty of them racking up good scores in club games. Some of those boys will get their chance.

"They're young enough and keen enough and hopefully they come in and do it for us on Sunday.

"At the end of the day, one man doesn't make a team. There's 14 others out there and hopefully they can stick to it on Sunday and bring the cup home."

Bradley is philosophical about his season-ending injury, conceding that things like that 'just happen and you have to get on with it.'

The 27-year-old forward went for an MRI scan last Monday which confirmed the damage. He is due to meet with his surgeon next Thursday.

Asked about how the injured occurred, he explained: "I was going for a ball and a man was coming behind me. I just went to turn, there was a bit of a collision and the knee went the wrong way.

"There wasn't much to it but it was pretty painful at the time. I knew there was something wrong straight away.

"I heard the noise - I remember when (my brother) Patrick did his, it was the same sort of noise. I figured it was the cruciate."

Bradley faces a long road back from not just the torn cruciate, but he also sustained damage to the medial and lateral ligaments and his cartilage.

If his recovery goes to plan, he is hoping to be back playing for Derry in the latter stages of next year's Allianz Football League.

"I've a good man to do my rehab with in Patrick, he's been through the same sort of thing. I'll just take it from there and hope for the best."

While he recuperates, the man known to many as 'Skinner' will also be unable to carry out his regular work as a plasterer.

"I don't know what will happen with work. There'll be no work for at least three or four months. I don't know if there's a GAA scheme, I'll have to look into it.

"I don't think in a couple of months' time I'll be fit to walk around a building site in a pair of boots or something.

"I'll maybe look into other avenues, different jobs...see if I can pick up something like that."